Blogs from Glaciers, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Wir sind noch immer beseelt nach dem gestrigen Tag (Stefan spürt leicht seine Schultern) und wir fühlen uns gut! Heute ist ein Fahrtag nach Süden geplant und das fällt uns im Herzen etwas schwer, da der Abel Tasman Nationalpark schon sehr schön ist und die Golden Bay einen Reiz ausströmt– soweit so gut, wir haben noch viel vor und somit geht es ab zu den Pancake Blowhole Rocks! Nach der Durchfahrt zur Westküste, werden wir von einer rauen und imposanten See begrüßt. Wir landen aufgrund des Regenwetters jedoch nicht ganz zur High Tide, dennoch sind die geschichteten Felsformationen spektakulär und es gefällt uns gut – auf dem Rückweg beginnt es dann zu schiffen und hört nicht mehr auf – das erschwert die Fahrt, jedoch ist es sehr lange hell und wir beschließen so weit wie möglich ... read more

Forigu week hat Firlu un furassing for ons. Ut was maandag dus eigunluk moestun wu nar sgooltju. Maar toen wu wakkur werdun sei Firlu dat wu niet nar sgooltju hoefdun. Guus was heul blij, Äpe font ut wel un bitju jammur, want hij wildu grag niewu dingun leerun. Omdat wu niet nar sgooltju hoegdun, mogtun wu kiesun: nog efun in betju blijfun liggun of mee op du fiets. Guus fiel muteen wir in slaap. Hij snurruktu heul hart. Nietus, segt Guus. Äpe wildu wel graag mee op du fiets, want ut was heul mooj wir. Wu gingun naar un mirtju flakbij du kemping. Ut was heul mooj, ut was net un spiegultju. Ju kon du berrugun sien in ut waatur. Gulukig hoefdu Äpe niet tu wandulun. Hij mogt bij Firlu in de jassak. Firlu en Äpe ... read more

We set off for the Haast Pass with the route following the shores of Lakes Wanaka and Hawea to Makaroa a small wilderness town. Haast Pass is 563m above sea-level and is the lowest crossing point over the Southern Alps. There are only three passes that take you over to the west coast so you are restricted to these if you want to visit the west, Haast, Arthur’s and the Lewis Pass. Haast Pass was originally a Maori greenstone (jade) trading route and is spectacular with diverse scenery travelling through river valleys, temperate rain forest, beech forest and high country grasslands. On the way we stopped at the DOC visitor centre to pick up details of walks on the route and decided to do a short nature walk from the visitor centre before we continued into ... read more

We wake up to an absolutely beautiful day in Fox. Which is great because our first stop is Lake Matheson which is supposed to beautifully reflect the view of the Glacier. So we hurried through breakfast and headed as early as we could and no surprises that we were not the first there. We were very lucky actually as by 10ish the clouds started gathering around the top of the mountains. It was a beautiful view of the Glacier and watching the mist lifting off the water. We also had a lovely walk around the lake to stretch our legs and it gave us plenty of opportunities to see more of the view, it was only an hour excursion. It was a magical moment when we saw two ducks swimming across the water gently breaking the ... read more

21st April 2009 We woke to mist blanketing our campsite, working its way through the gorge. It was a cold start but we were soon warm when, after a short drive onwards into the park, we stopped to climb the surprisingly steep Haast Pass Walkway. Only a 30 minute round trip but it hurt nonetheless! After taking in the panoramic views at the top we drove northwards continuing to stop intermittently to do the very short walks to Fantail Falls, Thunder Creek and Roaring Billy - all of which had rewarding views at the end of them. We were heading for Haast, which was a further hours journey north and had planned to spend a while there as it looked like a relatively large town. It wasn't. So after having a coffee break we drove a ... read more